After his consumption of the Skull of Gul'dan and his resulting banishment from Night Elf realm, Illidan was approached by Kil'jaeden and offered a chance to redeem himself in the eyes of the Burning Legion; destroy the Lich King, and the arch-demon promised to grant him all the power he could possibly wish for. Aware that such a task would require strong allies, Illidan summoned Lady Vashj and her Naga from the depths of the ocean, and with their help made good his escape to the Broken Isles. Here he began his search for a powerful artifact known as the Eye of Sargeras, with which he could destroy Ner'Zhul once and for all.

However, despite the Naga rearguard's best efforts the WardenMaiev Shadowsong with her lieutenant Naisha managed to tail the Demon Hunter across the ocean with a small force of Sentinels. Landing upon islands not shown on any of the Night Elves' charts, Maiev realised to her shock that she had arrived in the ancient city of Suramar, sunken beneath the waves thousands of years ago. Pondering upon this she and her companions began to search the islands for signs of Illidan.

Shortly after they made landfall Maiev discovered an ancient Orc by the name of Drak'thul. He told Maiev that if she silenced the ghosts which had been tormenting him now for many years, he would tell her his tale. Maiev did so, halting a never-ending battle between the skeletal remains of the Stormreaver, Blackrock and Twilight's Hammer Clan, and Drak'thul told the Warden how Gul'dan had raised the islands twenty years previously in order to claim Sargeras's powers for himself. Instead, he found death at the hands of the demons which guarded the Titan's tomb. Maiev was outraged by this information, and told Drak'thul he deserved a far worse fate for his part in the evil necromancer's scheme than the one the Fates had bestowed upon him. Drak'thul quietly agreed.